Grab Philippines insisted on Tuesday that it never overcharged its users, contrary to a statement made by a lawmaker, who called on transport regulators to slap a P15-billion fine on the company.
Last week the company was ordered by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to refund P5.05 million to its users for violating its commitments to regulate prices and improve service quality.
Brian P. Cu, the company’s president, clarified that Grab “has no liability to pay any fine,” as it only collects fares within the matrix set by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
On Monday, Party-list Rep. Jericho B. Nograles of Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta called out the transport regulator for not issuing a fine against Grab for supposedly “overcharging” users in the Philippines.
He said Grab should be slapped with P15 billion in total fines, after its “direct admission of 3 million offenses.”
“These statements are incorrect, misleading, irresponsible and will only hurt the morale of drivers who only want to make a decent living by serving the riding public,” said Cu.
The lawmaker based this statement on Grab’s apparent lack of legal initiatives to counter the P5-million fine that the PCC ordered from Grab, after it found “standard deviations”—either up or down—in fare collections from February to May 2019.
“We complied with our regulator but in the interest of showing good faith, we will comply with the PCC although clearly we could have filed a motion for reconsideration or appealed to a higher authority, which we did not since we want to focus on our business instead,” said Cu.
He added that the penalties that are spelled out in a joint administrative order issued in 2014 “should not be confused with the penalty imposed by the PCC.”
Cu noted that the fares collected during the period fares are within the matrix set by the LTFRB.
PCC Chairman Arsenio M. Balisacan announced on November 18 the agency imposed a penalty of P23.45 million on Grab for breaching its price commitments. The fine is an accumulation of all of the firm’s violations during the three quarters of its undertaking, he explained.
Of this total, Grab has to transmit to government coffers the sanctions for the first quarter and the second quarter, and return to its users the penalty for the third quarter.
“To break this down, a fine of P11.3 million has been imposed for the first quarter, P7.1 million for the second quarter and P5.05 million for the third quarter. To kick off the refund system, the disgorgement mechanism shall be applied on the third-quarter fine, with Grab being ordered to refund P5.05 million to affected riders,” said Balisacan.
Grab has to refund its passengers through their accounts in GrabPay—the app’s online wallet—within a period of 60 days from receipt of the order, the PCC chief said.
Image credits: Alysa Salen